M. Night Shyamalan films

A few years ago, a little movie came out called "The Sixth Sense", which I thought was very good.

Then "Unbreakable" came out, which I thought was also good, though it wasn't really scary, not that it was supposed to be.

And now in only a couple of weeks, "Signs" is going to come out, which I am really looking forward to, especially when you see the trailers.

signs.html

Anyways, I would like some input, opinions, theories. (DISCUSS!)
Especially for "Signs". Like theorize about the twist at the end of "Signs" (if there will be one....there should be).

Now go and Discuss...

PS: May contain Spoilers...

 

His first two films were quite good but this new one looks extremely underwhelming. *sigh* "This and more, when we continue with our broadcast of 'When Good Directors Go Bad!'. "

~PAd

 

Have you even seen all the trailers for Signs? It looks better than the first two. I mean it looks scary! The short trailers I do agree aren't very good. But the long one's...

 

M. Night Shyamalan films...are all the same.

He seems hell bent on rehashing the "oh so clever...but I saw it a mile away" twists which please common audiences so much.

Do something new and original Night! A good director is a varied director.

 

M. Night Shyamalan films...are all the same.

I don't understand where you see how there all the same.

Ghosts
Super Hero's
Alien's (if they are that...)

The only thing thats the same is Bruce, and thats only the first two. And a twist at the end, but thats what makes his film's so good.

 

I have some high expectations for Signs, I hope it is gonna be as good as it looks!

DarthNut,
the nuttiest guy around.

 

I don't know how you can say Shyamalan's films are all the same. The first two were very original, and Signs also looks very original.

And, as far as the twist goes, you must be a lot smarter than me, because I didn't see either of them coming. I wasn't thinking "Oh that was clever...but I saw it a mile away" I was thinking, "What in the hell just happened?"

 

I agree, I don't think his films are all the same. He doesn't use the typical formulas that Hollywood is so fond of these days.

My best impression of him is that he knows how to set up a shot. Just watch Sixth Sense or Unbreakable and there are some amazing shots in there.

I would have been disappointed if he used Bruce Willis again, but I'm so happy he got Mel Gibson. I don't know if I even want to theorize on what the film is going to be about. I just want to enjoy the process and see where he takes us.

edit - another link

 

He's very clever in what he does.

He wrote the first Stuart Little screenplay

My favorite of his movies so far is Unbreakable...I loved the train station sequence. I also beleive what Elijah (Samuel L. Jackson) said "I do believe that comic book heroes walk the earth."

I am realy looking forward to Signs

 

I liked the sybolism/motifs that he put into the films. Like in Unbreakable, anyone wearing really bright, non-drab colored clothing was going to or had done something evil. And the red things in Sixth Sense that had soething to do with ghosts.

 

I heard that there isn't a twist in this one. The closest thing is a slight shocker but it isn't at the end and you don't just go "wow didn't see that comming".

IMO thats a good thing. He was starting to get pigeon holed. I think one of the best things for his career is if people come out of the theater upset that there was no twist.

Anyways as someone else pointed out. Shyamalan is defiatly doing some diffrent stuff with his movies and I'm really starting to like it. I was one of those that saw the ending of 6th sense coming a mile away same with unbreakable but I really liked unbreakable and it made sixth sense a better movie for me.

Also as was pointed out what he is doing is giving his own stylistic twist to some of the classic genres. Ghosts, superheros, and aliens. I think it will be interesting to see what he does next (as long as its something he comes up with. He has been rumored to be doing everything from Superman to Indy)

BTW was anyone else glad to here how to pronounce his name from the trailers

 

I think a lot of my expectations for The Sixth Sense killed my actual viewing of it. The hype was so large and the pure arrogance that shined off of Shyamalan made me think this had to be one heck of a movie.

But other than a sympathetic performance from Haley Joel Osment, I thought the movie was just...good. Not terrific, spectacular and original but just normal. Good. Adequate. I got the shivers in the places that Shyamalan calculated for and despite not knowing at the time about its twist ending, I saw it coming about a mile away and was sorely disappointed to find out I was right.

Unbreakable wasn't as straightforward as Sixth Sense but I think that's what I liked about it. Shyamalan was stretching for something more complicated, more intricate than a simple ghost story. The crafting of Samuel L. Jackson's character I thought was quite wonderful and while the character's psychology was unbalanced, it made chilling sense. So, IMHO, this was just a better movie in terms of its conception.

I'm personally looking forward to Signs . It doesn't look as suspensful as his first two but I think the creepy factor is still there.

 

I also saw the ending to The Sixth Sense a mile away.
But for Unbreakable I didn't see that coming at all.
And of course I'm looking forward to Signs, though to me, some of the trailers themselves are scary to me. Like the one where the Flash Light goes out, and something jumps out at Mel.

I just saw on Access Hollywood, the part where Mel's little girl says "There's a monster outside my window, can I have a glass of water?" They actually showed the "Monster". Well at least its silhouette, it was on the roof of the farmhouse. It was hunched over, with what looked like long arms, and to me it looked to be CGI.

 

I don't know how we can criticize his directing history. He only has two films released. We might be able to have a good discussion after a few of his films are released.

I really enjoy his movies. His presence is always felt. The way the movie is shot is slow but powerful. He knows how to make a good movie. A twist ending isn't the only things that makes you coming back for more. I loved watching the Sixth Sense again. How many movies with a twist ending can withstand repeated viewings? Not many.

I think that people going to watch Signs will walk into the theaters thinking they will be watching a bad B-movie, but come out thinking they saw an excellent movie well worth the price of the ticket. It will surpass many many expectations and will barely meet other's (the really high ones).

I think for future projects, Night should go into different genres. Something other than the creepy supernatural stuff. Stephen King went from writing The Shining to writing the Green Mile. Both turned out great. We know Night could direct a movie of another genre, but can he pulloff writing it? I think so, and I hope he will.

 

He hasn't done just 2 films, he had a few more under his belt before the Sixth sense, most of which were straight to video releases.

Anyway, my point was that i think the Sixth Sense was massively ovr-hyped. Everyone was reating it like the most ingenious film of all time, simply because of an ending which was totally obvious and had been done before.

The only worthwile thing about the film is Haley Joel Osment's performance, but neither that nor the twist justifies multiple viewings. If you watch the Sixth Snese more than once, it starts to fall apart since theres nothing to hold it together other than the twist at the end.

 

I don't like Sixth Sense. Unbreakable was interesting, but for me, not a keeper. Between the bad previews and the bad early reviews, I've no interest in Signs.

 

bloody hell, I just noticed the number of typos my last post had. Sorry! Must get that keyboard fixed and stop typing so quickly.

 

I thought it was because you just felt very strongly about M. Night Shyamalan's films, SidiousDragon .

Anyhow, I am very much looking forward to Signs, as it looks very eery indeed. I was completely blown away by The Sixth Sense, for several reasons, and I suppose I'm thankful that I wasn't aware of the hype for it, but even so, I still think it's a great film. I liked Unbreakable, however, I don't think it matched up to the brilliance of The Sixth Sense, partly as the subject it was dealing with was ludicrous, it was very difficult to portray seriously. But it was still very enjoyable, and I have a feeling M. Night Shyamalan will be a director who's destined to be up there with the greats, like Stanely Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, and Martin Scorsese. Or something.

 

...Don't forget George Lucas!

 

I still haven't seen Unbreakable so I can't make any comments about that. I didn't think the suprise ending in the Sixth Sense was overly obvious, but then I was too busy enjoying the other little things about the film. I think he wants to be a modern day Hitchcock, which is a lofty goal that I would love to see happen. I am looking forward to Signs. It also doesn't hurt that he lives nearby and films all his stuff in the surrounding area. I just love watching him turn such ordinary things I know, into something beautiful or creepy on screen. Bucks county is going to look great.

 

Well, Signs is going to come out in a few weeks here. Actually in about 14 days to be exact.
Anyway, it?s the movie that I have been looking forward to a lot (Next to AOTC, The Matrix Reloaded-Revolutions, and a few others).
Well in two weeks, this "discussion" may take off a lot. With reviews and what not...

And I'm not actually a huge 'crazy' fan of Shyamalan, but I think he deserves a spot here...

 

I am really looking forward to signs!

 

Due to a discussion in an English class one day, I was spoiled on The Sixth Sense long before I saw it. However, I found the movie's attention to detail fascinating - the use of red as a symbol of death, the fact that Bruce Willis' character never interacted with the living save the boy (character names have completely failed me today), and the boy's own journey through discovery, in which he learns to help others, were amazing. (By the way, for anyone who has not had a chance to see the special features on the DVD, it's worth the money for it - and you get to see Shyamalan's first horror film, which is a trip. )

Unbreakable was a bit of a disappointment for me. I enjoyed it, but I felt that it was a little like a sequel to The Sixth Sense. The movie felt like Shyamalan was reaching for an ending that was both shocking and predictable - in my opinion, it was too much of the latter to be really effective. Elijah was too wrapped up in the idea that if he existed, the superman had to exist too for these disasters to not be linked to him somehow. I would have been happier with the movie, I think, if it had been more focused on his story rather than the other character. (Again, character names fail me today.)

Finally, Signs - I've been looking forward to this movie since the preview first came out. As a diehard X-Files fan, crop circles are an interesting dilemma to me. I think Shyamalan could do a great job with it, and after taking on ghosts and madmen, alien invasion is the next logical step. However, I'm very glad that he's decided to move on to a different actor - Willis was great, but it's time to see some fresh blood. (And it's also a relief that Gibson is going to be in a movie where he isn't playing William Wallace again... )

Mel

 

The truth behind Signs! (no spoilers)

 

Signs looks incredibly stupid considering the fact that we know how they were faked.

There was a whole documentary on the subject.
The guys go plot it, and then go around in circles using a wooden board to press down the stalks.